What makes up your perfect restaurant? Is it all about good food or good atmosphere? Do the waiters, bartenders or folks behind the counter know your name? Is it that one dish that keeps you coming back for more?
Well, my perfect restaurant (which of course doesn’t really exist) sits about 500 feet from my house. I do have one of those in Dame’s Chicken and Waffles and they have pretty good food too, especially their macaroni and cheese, which is the one menu item my perfect restaurant must have. They also play jazz music, which besides a mixture of blues, classic rock (think Steely Dan), black gospel from the 1980s, 90s and 2000s pop music and of course anything from the Motown catalog makes up my perfect restaurant playlist. Add to the menu Pancakes so I can alternate my breakfast game, topped of course with warm maple syrup. And cookies, lots of gourmet cookies. Oh and ice cream, Mellow Mushroom’s Kosmic Karma pizza so I don’t have to walk the additional 1100 feet and a Five Guys cheeseburger with mustard and ketchup so I don’t have to drive two miles and the sushi from Raleigh’s Sushi Republic so I don’t have to drive 90 minutes. And how could I forget some calabash shrimp and croaker. (Some people think the North Carolina state dish should be chopped barbecue. I’d go with calabash seafood).
Of course, if the perfect restaurant existed, it would be Target large and there would be no need for the wonderful strips like Elm Street that force people to take evening strolls, be adventurous and experience different foods and atmospheres. In other words, there wouldn’t be such a thing as a vibrant place.
Oh well, here’s your news for today:
News from North Carolina
Today is council meeting day in Greensboro. Here’s your agenda. As always, it starts at 5:30 at the Melvin Municipal Building at the corner of Washington and Greene Streets. Parking is free after 5 in the Greene Street parking deck. For those who can’t make it, video streaming is here and the hashtag #gsopol on Twitter has highlights as well.
In other city and county government news: Greensboro Councilman Jamal Fox has been cleared to teach again at NC A&T; the City of Greensboro fined property owners for housing code violations; the City of High Point is hiring outside legal help to deal with a grievance against its city manager; High Point may or may not have a county commissioner next year; Asheville’s in the hunt to find a cure for its graffiti vandalism; 5.7 million dollars of taxes are due in New Hanover County; and Harnett County hires an economic development planner.
In education news today, the Asheville City Board of Education approves their version of the state’s new 25 percent plan. Meanwhile Wake and Durham Counties plan to join the fight against the new plan.
The major business and retail news today comes from the potential RJ Reynolds/Lorillard merger, which may help Winston-Salem and hurt Greensboro (This is on top of the news that RF Micro Devices may merge with an out-of-state company). Additionally in retail news people say goodbye to the original Ollie’s Bakery in Winston-Salem and Westbend Vineyards in Lewisville; North Carolina founded and headquartered BB&T is now the nation’s 12th largest bank; Lincoln County’s largest subdivision ever has been approved and the Trader Joes supporters signs in Greensboro may be too big.
In tourism and travel news, Biltmore is back to being the top tourist destination in North Carolina, the CIAA tournament will stay in Charlotte for the next six years, the economic impact of our state’s national parks and Governor McCrory honored this year’s Winner’s Circle, those who’ve impacted state tourism the most.
News and Lessons from Elsewhere
New York is starting to impose North Carolina-style laws on its gentleman’s clubs.
Airport chaplains are there for more than just prayers, they are often the most civil employees or volunteers in the airport.
Another nice infographic on what could happen if all boomers behave like their parents and sell off their suburban homes.
Friend of the page Graham Sheridan’s latest, where he highlights what happens when Olympic cities and properties are abandoned. A colleague of his at the Brown Political Review notes that marrying someone like yourself may be bad for curing income inequality.
DC has committed funding to bury its power lines over the next 7-10 years.
This is a phenomenal list of how to come into a neighborhood and be a good neighbor and not just a person who jacks up house values.
This apartment building in Philly actually has mixed income housing.
And finally, a short reminder to some and lesson to all about how the mass grocery business really works, from Marketplace on NPR. Also, what it is like to be stranded in Atlanta’s food deserts.